TODAY IN HISTORY

0

Today is Tuesday, March 17, the 77th day of 2020. There are 289 days left in the year. This is St. Patrick’s Day.

Today’s Highlight in History:

On March 17, 1988, Avianca Flight 410, a Boeing 727, crashed after takeoff into a mountain in Colombia, killing all 143 people on board.

On this date:

In 1762, New York held its first St. Patrick’s Day parade.

In 1776, the Revolutionary War Siege of Boston ended as British forces evacuated the city.

In 1912, the Camp Fire Girls organization was incorporated in Washington, D.C., two years to the day after it was founded in Thetford, Vermont. (The group is now known as Camp Fire.)

In 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India in the wake of a failed uprising by Tibetans against Chinese rule.

In 1969, Golda Meir became prime minister of Israel.

In 1992, 29 people were killed in the truck bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Illinois, Sen. Alan Dixon was defeated in his primary reelection bid by Carol Moseley-Braun, who went on to become the first black woman in the U.S. Senate.

In 2005, baseball players told Congress that steroids were a problem in the sport; stars Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa testified they hadn’t used them while Mark McGwire refused to say whether he had. (McGwire owned up to steroid use in January 2010.)

In 2009, U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were detained by North Korea while reporting on North Korean refugees living across the border in China. (Both were convicted of entering North Korea illegally and were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor; both were freed in August 2009 after former President Bill Clinton met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.) The Seattle Post-Intelligencer published its final print edition.

Today’s Birthdays: The former national chairwoman of the NAACP, Myrlie Evers-Williams, is 87. Former astronaut Ken Mattingly is 84. Singer-songwriter Jim Weatherly is 77. Singer-songwriter John Sebastian (The Lovin’ Spoonful) is 76. Former NSA Director and former CIA Director Michael Hayden is 75. Rock musician Harold Brown (War; Lowrider Band) is 74. Actor Patrick Duffy is 71. Actor Kurt Russell is 69. Country singer Susie Allanson is 68. Actress Lesley-Anne Down is 66. Actor Mark Boone Jr. is 65. Country singer Paul Overstreet is 65. Actor Gary Sinise is 65. Actor Christian Clemenson is 62. Former basketball and baseball player Danny Ainge is 61. Actor Arye Gross is 60. Actress Vicki Lewis is 60. Actor Casey Siemaszko is 59. Writer-director Rob Sitch is 58. Actor Rob Lowe is 56. Rock singer Billy Corgan is 53.

Thought for Today: “May your neighbors respect you, trouble neglect you, the angels protect you, and heaven accept you.” — Irish saying.

By The Associated Press

No posts to display